MANILA WAS IN pitch darkness and gangs of soldiers roamed the streets arresting anyone who was foolish enough to be out without a good excuse. A gun was thrust into the airport taxi I was travelling in but was quickly withdrawn when my driver explained I was a foreigner with an introduction to meet a high-ranking Filipino police officer. It was 1973 and the new Australian attorney-general, Lionel Murphy, had asked me to report on how police dealt with organised crime in South-East Asia. The Philippines was my first destination. I arrived a few days after President Marcos declared martial law.

The next day I met the police general with whom I was scheduled to have discussions. He greeted me warmly and offered me a cigar and a whisky even though it was only 10 in the morning. The general was a squat, tough-looking man with a metre of medals pinned to his chest and had no hesitation in answering my question about the rationale for martial law.